The regular team is completed by the return of Sarah (Fiona Dolman), together with Sykes the dog and Tamzin Malleson as pathologist Dr Kate Wilding. Kate becomes landlady to DS Nelson and, together with the Barnabys, helps him celebrate his first Christmas in Midsomer.

In “The Christmas Haunting”, Nelson arrives in Midsomer and is thrown straight into a murder investigation. A man is stabbed with an antique sword during a ghost-hunting party at a ‘haunted’ manor house in Morton Shallows. Can Barnaby and Nelson find a more earthly motive behind the murder and trap the killer?

The drama is made by Bentley Productions, part of the All3Media Group, for ITV.

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